The cartoon was published last Wednesday and followed a local July 16 shooting in which two people were killed and 23 more, including a toddler, were injured. De Adder’s cartoon portrayed a black toddler with the legend “Injuries to expect before they are two” and “Head laceration from a medium-caliber bullet” among less sinister harms.

On his blog, de Adder describes how he constructed the cartoon and shows his drafts. His intentions, he writes, weren’t racist:

Many things affected me about this tragedy, but the bullet injury to the 22-month old girl struck a cord. I have kids. The worst thing they ever suffered was a scrape to the knee.

Originally the cartoon said “Injuries to expect before children are two,” he writes. After making some other revisions, he says:

Then I made my big mistake, one that I’ll regret the rest of my life. I changed the word “children” to “they” because it looked better visually.

Furthermore, many comments on the cartoon (on Facebook) have pointed out the incredible racial diversity of the area in which the shooting occurred. It’s not a predominantly black neighbourhood – so why was a black child depicted? We need to be careful to not reinforce systemic racism with our illustrations, and to carefully consider our responsibility as image makers to both our audience and to our ethical code(s) as thoughtful human beings.